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Shimon and Sara Birnbaum Jewish Community Center

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Survivor Profile

JOSEPH MARKIEWICZ

JOSEPH

MARKIEWICZ

(1922- 2007)

PRE-WAR NAME:

JOSEPH MARKIEWICZ

PLACE OF BIRTH:

WARSAW, POLAND

DATE OF BIRTH:

SEPTEMBER 25, 1922

LOCATION(s) BEFORE THE WAR:

WARSAW, POLAND

LOCATION(s) DURING THE WAR:

SIBERIA

STATUS:

SURVIVOR, REFUGEE

  • BIOGRAPHY BY REGINA YOSKOWITZ, DAUGHTER

    My father, Joseph Markiewicz, grew up in Warsaw, Poland.  He had a very close-knit family and a happy childhood. His father, Elimayer, was a strong family man and owned a taxicab service with four taxis.  At an early age, my father learned to service the cars and also to drive.  His mother, Regina, was a very gentle and beautiful woman, and a wonderful mother. He had a younger sister Bella and a younger brother named Leon. They lived on Tovarova Street in Warsaw. My father was the only survivor of his nuclear family and other than one uncle, the only survivor of his extended family.

    My father was an athlete as well as a very good student. As a teenager he trained daily in track and field in an outdoor site not far from his home. In fact, he competed successfully in numerous track and field meets and was a very successful runner, hurdle jumper and discus thrower. At one point when his team won a very major country-wide meet, my father was given a prize of a radio – a very precious item at the time that his whole family prized. The coach also warned him never to admit to anyone that he was Jewish.

    My father was 17 years old, had completed high school and was enrolled in an engineering college when the war reached Poland. On September 1, 1939, the Germans marched into Warsaw, with thousands of soldiers goosestepping, many tanks, and airplanes flying overhead.  My father recalls standing with his father in the huge crowd that was watching their entrée into Warsaw.  Since my father was 17, he was of age to be recruited into the Polish army.  And of course, immediately Jews were targeted for physical attacks, arrest, and murder.

    Within several days, my grandfather, Elimayer, took my father and one of his friends in his taxi and drove them to the Russian border.  He was stopped by troops a few times but because he spoke Russian fluently, was able to get through each of those blockades. Only at the last one near the border did he get into an actual fight with one of the soldiers.  My grandfather successfully brought my father and his friend, both 17, to the border and told them to run and not turn back. That was the last time my father ever saw anyone in his family.

  • SURVIVOR INTERvIEW:

    Refer to Biography above

  • Sources and Credits:

    Credits:

    Biography by Regina Yoskowitz, daughter; Digital historic and family photographs donated by Regina Yoskowitz, daughter.

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